Disney Classics Censored In Some Markets?

[KubrickFan]

They could find most of it, but not all. So, instead of leaving the original dialog in, and search for an impersonator, Disney decided to throw away all of Deems Taylor's voice, and redub it.

What do you mean by leaving the original dialog in? Are you saying that they should have just bridged the gaps with an impersonator?

Why not? The audio for the 'snails and oysters' scene was missing from the movie Spartacus. With Laurence Olivier passed away, they resorted to bring Anthony Hopkins in to impersonate his voice in the missing scene. What Disney did is akin to replace Olivier's voice completely, and have a completely different actor redub him. That doesn't make sense. You work with what you have and you fill in the gaps. Having Taylor's voice in the sequences that survived is better than don't having his voice at all.

[Escapay]

I think it's rather odd that Disney opted to redub all of Deems Taylor in Fantasia, but when they reconstructed Bedknobs and Broomsticks four years earlier, they kept the original audio and only did ADR for the re-instated scenes where the audio no longer existed. Then again, the ADR work there was inconsistent at times: Mrs. Hobday's accent is different in re-instated scenes, the voice actor for Charles couldn't do a believable English accent if his life depended on it, and Eglantine & Reverend Jelk sound noticeably and understandably older (since it was Lansbury & McDowall 25 years later).

Still, I'd rather have as much of the original as possible, with an impersonator where necessary, rather than re-dubbing the whole thing.

albert

[Disney Duster]

I completely agree with Escapay and Kubrick!

[jpanimation]

I completely agree with Escapay and Kubrick!

Me too.

[Goliath]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Disney censoring Fantasia for at least the U.S. audience to protect us from the boobie fairies...or horses. I can't exactly remember what it was that they figured audiences of today couldn't handle.

What about Herbie Fully Loaded, where Disney digitally reduced Lindsay Lohan's boobs, because they thought she, too, was too "fully loaded"?

I mean, it's ridiculous enough, but in this day and age? And she wasn't even nude or showed cleavage! Not that *that* would hurt children, but still... I could understand it if Disney did it for those reasons, but this?! They're breasts, for crying out loud! Are they giving kids nightmares too?!

And another for the whole pathetic thing.

[Elladorine]

What about Herbie Fully Loaded, where Disney digitally reduced Lindsay Lohan's boobs, because they thought she, too, was too "fully loaded"?

I thought that was just a rumor?

[Goliath]

What about Herbie Fully Loaded, where Disney digitally reduced Lindsay Lohan's boobs, because they thought she, too, was too "fully loaded"?

I thought that was just a rumor?

Not according to IMDb, it isn't.

[Kyle]

As far as I remember it was true.

[Elladorine]

Looks like the director of the film denies it: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ae/3229747.html

[Goliath]

Looks like the director of the film denies it: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ae/3229747.html

Of course he does; it would be embarrassing for him to admit it.

[Elladorine]

Looks like the director of the film denies it: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ae/3229747.html

Of course he does; it would be embarrassing for him to admit it.

She, not he.

Anyway, I'm not defending one way or the other, but I'm not seeing any actual proof posted. Just rumors.

[Goliath]

She, not he.

Sorry, didn't read the article before posting and I assumed, very male-oriented, I know, that the director was a man.

Well, there's IMDb that supports it. I mean, how could you 'prove' such a thing?

[Elladorine]

Hey, it's a male-dominated industry, understandable.

Anyway, according to the rumors, the film was screened before supposedly being digitally altered. And if that was really the case, I'd figure that some of the unedited scenes would have been leaked (maybe even in the form of early trailers or something) and people would be making direct comparisons. Plus with the technology they had back in 2005 it would be extremely difficult to alter so many scenes in such a manner without the final product looking manipulated and fake.

Personally, I'd be more willing to take the word of the director in this case over the people I've seen making claims online (including imdb, which isn't always accurate). So far I haven't seen any credible sources to back up the "fact" that her breasts were digitally reduced.

By the way, check out this portion of UltimateDisney's own interview of the director!

Herbie: Fully Loaded had some obstacles to face upon release. What's your response to the persistent rumors that a certain cast member's wardrobe and body were digitally altered to make the movie more "family-friendly"? Can you set the record straight?

(Laughs) You know, it's really nutty. I never experienced anything like it. It was very strange because there's so much paparazzi and celebrity interest in Lindsay and all the stuff that's going on. I personally would read about something online and I'd be like "Oh my God, I like didn't do that." You'd read it in print and it'd say "Angela Robinson said..." That's weird. I don't know where the Internet rumors came about digitally reducing her boobs or like other things that didn't happen. I don't know what to say.

Whether or not it was edited doesn't really affect me one way or the other, but a bit of juicy gossip like this is fun to believe for most people and is what keeps these kinds of rumors alive.

[Big Disney Fan]

Getting back to Fantasia and Deems Taylor, regardless of what happened, we'd still end up with dubbing his voice in the end.

[ajmrowland]

the lindsay lohan thing might be a rumor. aqua(from kingdom hearts) has big breasts that even move on occassion.

[Wonderlicious]

I beg your pardon?!

I believe Wonderlicious was just speaking about the UK, not any country.

Exactly. When I meant "a nervous country", I meant Britain in 1940, where morale was simply very low after France had been crushed and the majority of neutral countries in Western Europe had been invaded, and (since Britain hadn't yet won the battle in the skies) there were suspicions that the Nazis were going to pounce on the British Isles next.

Anyways, Lilo & Stitch already had a PG rating over here in the states, and it didn't hinder it's success or popularity in the slightest. So why would they go out of their way to avoid the PG rating in the UK?

Apparently, the use of the washing machine as a hiding place would have given Lilo and Stitch not a PG rating, but a 12 rating, which would have prevented the majority of the targeted demographic from seeing it. No animated classic got rated PG in the UK until Bolt (though it wasn't the first animated film from Disney to get a PG; Toy Story, Cars and Dinosaur all did), by which time animated films aimed at family audiences rated PG seemed nothing to get flustered about. Having seen the comparisons (I have the French collector's edition of Lilo and Stitch, and only saw the UK cut once years ago, before even knowing it had been edited), I can say that I'm not particularly impressed with the UK edit, as it seems a bit unnatural.

And yes, I really think that they shouldn't use the redubbing for all of Deems Taylor's lines. The linking sections in Fantasia are admittedly of lesser importance to the actual animated sections, but it's not as though they needed to redub every piece of his dialogue.

[Big Disney Fan]

*The UK version of Cars has Jeremy Clarkson (presenter of popular British motoring programme Top Gear) provide the voice of Harv instead of Jeremy Piven (why yes, British voices do fit perfectly into the all-American world of Cars ). Recasting bit parts like this has been common in the UK; the Ugly Sister in Shrek 2 was voiced by Jonathan Ross instead of Larry King (Ross being a UK talk-show host), and the catwalk commentator voiced by Joan Rivers was revoiced by Kate Thornton (presenter of showbiz-related TV shows in the UK).

There have been other alterations of "Cars" in other countries as well.

In France, the joke about "Mater, like Ta-Mater, but without the 'Ta'" did not translate, so Mater was renamed Martin, and the joke became "Like Aston Martin, but without the 'Aston'."

In Germany, Mario Andretti is dubbed (and his character name is changed to) by two-time Formula One World Drivers Champion Mika Häkkinen, and The King is voiced by three-time Formula One World Drivers Champion, Niki Lauda.

In Italy (where foreign movies are mostly dubbed), since the movie has lines in Italian, it was handled with a twist. Luigi was dubbed with a slight Modena accent (the home town of Ferrari) and Guido was dubbed with a thick Modenese dialect. The Ferrari in the end of the movie has been dubbed by Michael Schumacher as in the original version (but of course in Italian, with some German accent). Giancarlo Fisichella makes a cameo. A nice coincidence: Marco Della Noce, who dubs Luigi, is an Italian comedian whose trademark act (several years before the release of "Cars") was playing of the head mechanic of Ferrari, and includes some of the lines from this routine in the dubbing.

In Denmark, The King is renamed Tom Kilerem and voiced by seven-time Le Mans champion Tom Kristensen.

In Spanish-language versions, Fernando Alonso has a cameo.

Thanks to the Internet Movie Database for this information.

[Siren]

I'm not surprised the films get cut. It makes sense really. Not common sense mind you, but countries have their own rating systems. And their own considerations on what is too mature for what age. It may seem very anal to us, but its their rules. Just as much as we have ratings, but I do feel our ratings are much more bendable. For instance, look at Hunchback, I am still surprised to this day how that movie made a G rating. I know Disney toned it down, adding the gargoyles etc, but still, I assumed it was PG. I still let my young daughter watch it, because I am not really that overprotective when it comes to films, but that's the ratings system for ya.

[Wonderlicious]

There have been other alterations of "Cars" in other countries as well.

Yes, but what you found out about the full foreign-language versions of Cars can be considered different. A lot of those things were standard translation issues. The French renaming of Mater to Martin, for example, makes sense, as linguistic nuances wouldn't allow a direct translation of the character's trademark pun. Most good foreign language dubs of animated films use voice actors associated with equivalent things to their counterparts in the US version (in the case of Cars, the champion cars are voiced by native racing champions).

What the UK version of Cars was doing could be seen as somewhat similar, except that it appears abruptly and somewhat uncomfortably in the original version; they were basically throwing in a random British voice into an otherwise very American film. I think the intent was to try and provide an equivalent effect for British audiences by using a native personality with a known knowledge of cars and motors. I don't think it necessarily works, as Jeremy Clarkson's British accent just doesn't seem to fit in with the all-American universe, nor do I think that Clarkson really would be a Nascar enthusiast and go talking about it often. I think that leaving Jeremy Piven's voice would have gone down well with British audiences, even if some of the intended wit was lost.

[estefan]

I think that leaving Jeremy Piven's voice would have gone down well with British audiences, even if some of the intended wit was lost.

Plus, it's not like they don't air Entourage in the UK, so the reference to Ari Gold wouldn't have been lost.